A day-long onsite workshop on ingestion of rat poison that may lead to liver damage and death was organised by Christian Medical College (CMC) Hospital on its premises in Vellore. According to a press release, 10 staff, including doctors and nurses, from the Coimbatore Government Medical College participated in the workshop where they had theoretical and practical sessions in handling the plasma exchange machine. Staff from six government hospitals including Stanley Medical College Hospital, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, Rajaji Medical College Hospital (Madurai) and Government Medical College Hospital in Villupuram will attend such workshops at CMC in the coming weeks. At present, rat poison, which contains yellow phosphorus, was a major cause of death, especially among youth, in the State. As a result, the State government has recently taken steps to regulate sale of rat poison. In addition, cost- effective treatments to save lives of persons, who develop liver damage after rat poison ingestion, are also being set-up in government hospitals in the State.
Accordingly, under the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care (TAEI) – National Health Mission (NHM) programme, the hub and spoke model of care will be provided in each district. Standard operating guidelines to manage rat poison is also another feature of the initiative. Specialised treatment (plasma exchange) to save lives in persons who develop severe liver damage will also be provided in government hospitals.
Plasma exchange treatment comprises two steps — removal of plasma from the person with liver damage (called plasmapheresis) and replacement with plasma from a healthy volunteer blood donor. As an initial step, six government medical college hospitals with a high case load of rat poison patients are being equipped with centrifugal plasma exchange facilities.
It was in this regard, the CMC at Vellore has been invited to conduct onsite workshops to train a team of doctors, nurses and technicians caring for these patients in these hospitals, the release said.
